Aze (magazine)

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Aze
Volume 5, issue 3 on Family (2022)
CategoriesLiterary magazine
FounderMichael Paramo
Founded2016
First issueMay 2017; 6 years ago (2017-05)
Websiteazejournal.com

Aze (stylized AZE) is a literary magazine for asexual, aromantic, and agender people that was created in 2016 and publishes issues online.[1][2][3][4] It was formerly known as The Asexual until 2019 when it expanded to include aromantic and agender people.[2] The magazine publishes visual art, poetry, and personal and academic essays on the subjects of asexuality, aromanticism, and agender experiences and their various intersections.[1][2] It was founded by Michael Paramo.[5]

It is listed as an educational resource by some American university centers and elsewhere,[3][6][7] including Alice Oseman's young-adult fiction book Loveless (2022).[8] Writing in Aze has been referenced in scholarship published by Feminist Formations,[9] Sexualities,[10] Archives of Sexual Behavior,[11] Communication Education,[12] and others.[4]

Content[edit]

Aze publishes content online in magazine volumes of four issues. In 2019, the magazine changed its name from The Asexual to AZE to represent a shift in its content's focus beyond asexual identity, including gray-asexuality and demisexuality, as well as people on the aromantic spectrum and agender people.[13] The magazine had previously published an issue focusing on agender experiences in 2018.[14]

Most issues focus on a specific intersection or topic related to asexual, aromantic, and agender experiences.[15] Themes that have been explored in the magazine's issues have included "Asexual Masculinities," "Redefining Relationships," and "Aromanticism."[2] Other issues have focused on body image, race, media representation, gender, sexuality, and attraction.[2][13] It has published interviews with Pragati Singh in 2018 and 2023.[16][17]

The magazine's content is edited by the founder Michael Paramo.[13] The magazine was discussed in an interview for Sex Out Loud with Tristan Taormino in 2019.[18] Its content was referenced in Ending the Pursuit, a book about asexuality, aromanticism, and agender identity published by Unbound in 2024.[19]

Reception[edit]

Aze's focus on publishing asexual, aromantic, and agender people's perspectives has been recognized as unique since these experiences are "often absent from the mainstream."[2] The magazine is listed as a resource by the Asexual Visibility and Education Network,[20] Sounds Fake but Okay,[21] some American university resource centers,[3][6][7] and in Alice Oseman's young-adult fiction book Loveless (2022).[8]

The magazine has been noted for its inclusion of people of color within the asexual, aromantic, and agender communities, particularly of BIPOC and Latinx people.[2][22][23] Janeth Montenegro Marquez argued that "AZE does a good job of creating a niche for individuals who crave it" by providing "other queer individuals, queer BIPOC individuals especially, a space of community to explore their identities" and theorize about their experiences where they may not be able to "in other queer spaces."[2] The magazine's issue on race was noted by Foster et al. to contribute to expanding perceptions of the asexual community beyond whiteness.[22] Justin Smith referenced a poem published on Aze to argue that there are inherent connections between blackness and asexuality.[9] Ben Brandley and Angela Labrador cited an article from the magazine that argued how people of color may feel excluded from the asexual community.[12]

Scholar Anna Kurowicka referenced the magazine's issue on disability to examine the intersections between asexuality and disability narratives, arguing for the need to trouble the boundaries between both experiences.[10]

In a book edited by Angela M. Schubert and Mark Pope, authors Stacey Litam and Megan Speciale refer to an article published on Aze that discusses different types of attraction as multi-layered, including sexual, romantic, aesthetic, sensual, emotional, and intellectual, to argue for the need to expand notions of attraction beyond sexual attraction within the context of interpersonal relationships.[24]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Ace and Aro Journeys: A Guide to Embracing Your Asexual or Aromantic Identity. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 2023-04-21. pp. 252–53. ISBN 978-1-83997-639-1. AZE Journal is an online publication of agender, aromantic, and asexual people's creative expressions, including visual art, poetry, essays...
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Montenegro Marquez, Janeth (Spring 2022). "Asexual Latina/o/x Representation in AZE" (PDF). Feral Feminisms. 10 (2): 13–15.
  3. ^ a b c "Asexual/Aromantic Education". UC Santa Barbara Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity. Retrieved 2023-08-18. AZE is an independent online journal publishing ace, aro, and agender writers and artists. It was established in 2016 and has more than fifteen issues.
  4. ^ a b "About AZE". AZE journal. Archived from the original on 2023-04-14. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  5. ^ "Exploring Asexuality: The "A" in LGBTQIA+". Psych Central. 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2023-08-19. Michael Paramo — creator of AZE journal (originally known as The Asexual)
  6. ^ a b "Intersectional Identities | LGBTQ+ Resource Center". University of Milwaukee LGBTQ+ Resource Center. Retrieved 2023-08-18. A journal publishing asexual, aromantic, and agender writers and artists, created by Michael Paramo.
  7. ^ a b Leuzinger, Julie. "Guides: LGBTQ Studies: Ace Week-Books/Journals/Films". University of North Texas Library: LGBTQ Studies. Retrieved 2023-08-18. An independent online journal publishing the perspectives of ace, aro, and agender authors.
  8. ^ a b Oseman, Alice (2022-03-01). Loveless. Scholastic Inc. ISBN 978-1-338-75195-6.
  9. ^ a b Smith, Justin (2020). ""[T]he happiest, well-feddest wolf in Harlem": Asexuality as Resistance to Social Reproduction in Claude McKay's Home to Harlem". Feminist Formations. 32 (3): 51–74. doi:10.1353/ff.2020.0040. ISSN 2151-7371. S2CID 234928784.
  10. ^ a b Kurowicka, Anna (2023-05-04). "Contested intersections: Asexuality and disability, illness, or trauma". Sexualities: 136346072311707. doi:10.1177/13634607231170781. ISSN 1363-4607. S2CID 258524276. I explored the archives of AZE journal to find articles that address these issues. (...) A 2022 issue of the AZE journal devoted to disability...
  11. ^ McInroy, Lauren B.; Beaujolais, Brieanne; Craig, Shelley L.; Eaton, Andrew D. (2021-11-01). "The Self-Identification, LGBTQ+ Identity Development, and Attraction and Behavior of Asexual Youth: Potential Implications for Sexual Health and Internet-Based Service Provision". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 50 (8): 3853–3863. doi:10.1007/s10508-021-02064-y. ISSN 1573-2800. PMID 34136992. S2CID 235460012.
  12. ^ a b Brandley, Ben; Labador, Angela (2023-10-02). "Towards an asexual-affirming communication pedagogy". Communication Education. 72 (4): 331–347. doi:10.1080/03634523.2022.2151638. ISSN 0363-4523. S2CID 254354072.
  13. ^ a b c "Pride Reads: Three Queer Speculative Fiction Magazines to Check Out!". The Geekiary. 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  14. ^ "A(gender): An Anthology". AZE. 2018-11-14. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  15. ^ "Journal". AZE. 2023-07-25. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  16. ^ "Indian Aces: Awareness and Activism in India". AZE. February 2018. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  17. ^ "Asexual Advocacy in India: An Interview with Dr. Pragati Singh". AZE. 2023-03-27. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  18. ^ "October 11th 2019: Michael Paramo on Asexuality, Aromanticism, and Agender Identity". VoiceAmerica. Retrieved 2023-08-19.
  19. ^ Paramo, Michael (2024-02-08). Ending the Pursuit: Asexuality, Aromanticism and Agender Identity. Unbound Publishing. ISBN 978-1-80018-286-8.
  20. ^ "Links | The Asexual Visibility and Education Network | asexuality.org". www.asexuality.org. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  21. ^ "Asexual and Aromantic Resources". Sounds Fake But Okay Podcast. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
  22. ^ a b Foster, Aasha B.; Eklund, Austin; Brewster, Melanie E.; Walker, Amelia D.; Candon, Emma (2019). "Personal agency disavowed: Identity construction in asexual women of color". Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. 6 (2): 127–137. doi:10.1037/sgd0000310. ISSN 2329-0390. S2CID 149934489. ...an online journal dedicated to asexuality, recently dedicated an issue to the intersections of asexuality and race to promote a "message on the significance of prioritizing the voices of ace POC and decentering the whiteness of ace spaces.
  23. ^ Döring, Nicola; Bhana, Deevia; Albury, Kath (2022-12-01). "Digital sexual identities: Between empowerment and disempowerment". Current Opinion in Psychology. 48: 101466. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101466. ISSN 2352-250X. PMID 36242854. S2CID 252339766. Recent studies and reviews also look into digital asexual identities of people of color such as asexual male identified Filipinx on Tumblr or asexual Latinx in the aro/ace community journal AZE.
  24. ^ Schubert, Angela M.; Pope, Mark (2022-09-20). Handbook for Human Sexuality Counseling: A Sex Positive Approach. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-90413-7.
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